Actuator for a plurality of carburetors



Nov. 5, 1957 E. w. LIBBY ACTUATOR FOR A PLURALITY OF CARBURETORS FiledJune 16, 1953 JNVEN TOR. [Jaw/q /4. 145%.;

BY M g VZM HTT/i/ ACTUATOR FOR A PLUR-ALITY OF CARBURETORS Edward W.Libby, Belleville, Mich., assignor, by mesne assignments, to Bank ofAmerica National Trust and "Savings Association, San Francisco, Calif.,.as agent Application June :16, 1953, Serial No. 361,952

3 Claims. -(Gl.'74---4"71) This invention relates to a plural-carburet-ion system for an internal combustion engine and, "moreparticularly, to an improved type of actuator therefor, whereby aplurality of carburetors may be simultaneously actuated in a novel andpositive manner.

In recent years, producers of internal combustion engines have sought toincrease the output andeconomy of such engines by various means,including the use of a plurality of carburetors for supplying fuel tothe cylinders in such fashion that the proper air-fuel mixtureproportion and distribution will be achieved at all speeds. However, ithas been found that one of the major obstacles to the use of a pluralityof carburetors is that it is very difficult to actuate more than onesimultaneously and with equal control as desired for different speed andload conditions. In many instances, the carburetor flanges on the intakemanifold may not be exactly in line' with each other or the bolt holesin one of such flanges may be 'solocated as to cause the carburetorattached to'such flange to be out of line with the others. Thismisalignment of the carburetors has a warping effect on the ordinaryplural carburetor actuating mechanism as it is moved throughout itsoperating cycle thus causing inconsistent fuel feeding as between thevarious carburetors.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a noveland improved actuator for a plurality of carburetors which willpositively and simultaneously opcrate the carburetors at any desiredspeed orfloa'd.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a novel actuator fora plurality of carburetors 'which will operate all the carburetorsequally and simultaneously although one or more of the carburetors maybe slightly out of alignment with the others.

.It is another object of the present invention to provide an:actuatorfor a plurality of carburetors characterized by it-s.novel andrugged construction which permits slight flexing of certain portions inone plane to overcome any misalignment of the carburetors, yet whichpossesses sufficientrigidity in another plane to insurepositive andconcurrent actuation of all the carburetors.

Other objects and advantages of the -present invention 'will becomeapparent from the subsequent description taken. in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings.

.In'the drawings: V

Figure l is a perspective view of an internal combustion engineembodying an actuator for a plurality of carburetors made in accordancewith the principles of the invention; and

Figure 2 is a fragmentary view of a modification of the actuator shownin Figure 1.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings, the invention is illustratedas applied to a six-cylinder in-line internal combustion engine 2 havingan engine block 3, and a cylinder head 5. Fixedly mounted on the side ofthe engine block 3 by means of a plurality of stud bolts 12, washers 13and nuts 14 is a conventional exhaust manifold 6, provided with a heatcontrol assembly 7 on which is securely mounted the heat-riser chamber 8of saidflanges may be misaligned.

an air-fuel intake manifold 10. The air-fuel intakemauifold 10.-issecured to the side of the engine block 3 by means of the stud bolts 12,washers 13, and nuts 14,-and is provided with a plurality oflongitudinally spaced horizontal flanges 16a. 16b and 16c on which aremounted a plurality of conventional downdraft carburetors 18a, 18b and180, respectively. The flanges 16a, 16b and are each located on theair-fuel intake manifold 10 at a position adjacent to two of the inletpassages 17, to provide for fuel feeding to two cylinders only by eachcarburetor 18a, 18b and 18c.

The carburetors 18a, 18b and are provided with lower portions 20a, 20band 20c, respectively, having formed on the lower ends thereofdownwardly facing flanges 24a, 24b and 240 which are shapedsimilarto-the flanges 16a, 16b and 160 and are fixedly mounted on thelatter by means of bolts 26a, 26b and 260 and nuts 28a, 28b and 280.Rotatively mounted in the lower portions 20a, 20b and 20c areconventional throttle valves onshafts 22a, 22b and 22c, respectively.The throttle valve shafts *22a, 22b and 220 are provided on theirrearward end with throttle valve control levers 30a, 30b and 30c,respectively, on which are mounted conventional throttle lever adjustingscrews as designated by numerals 32a, 32b and 320.

The throttle valve control levers 30a, 30b and 30c are provided on theirouter ends with stud screws 36a, 36b and 360 on which are fixedlymounted the inner ends of actuator levers 38a, 38b and 380, by-means oflock nuts 40a, 40b and 400, respectively. The outer ends of the actuatorlevers 38a, 38b and 380 are provided with apertures 40a, 40b and 400,respectively, in which is lockingly engaged a longitudinal member -42.The longitudinal member 42 may be locked in the apertures 40a, 40b and400 by any suitable means as by welding, lock screws, or by a press fit.The member 42 is shown as having preferably a rod-like shape with ahollow center, however, said member may be made With any desired shape,and may also be made from a plurality of parts with the separate partsbeing disposed between the actuator levers 38a, 38b and 38c and beingattached to said levers by any suitable means as by Welding. I

The actuator levers 38a, 38b and 380 are preferably made from sheetmetal and are formed so as to have a substantially rectangular crosssection, that is, with a smaller transverse cross section in onedimension than in another dimension. The actuator levers are assembledon the rigid longitudinal member 42 with the smaller cross section on ahorizontal axis to permit said levers to be horizontally flexed a slightamount for purposes of attachment to any one of the carburetors 18a, 18band 18c which may be slightly out of line with the others. "Suchmisalignment may be caused, for example, by the bolts 26a, 26b and 26cbeing mounted slightly out of line witheach other in the manifold intakeflanges 16a, 16b and16c, or

although the novel'construction of the actuator levers 38a, 38b and 380allows said levers to be horizontally flexed, they possess sufiicientrigidity in the vertical plane to insure positive and concurrent actionby all the levers during an operation cycle;

The inner end of throttle valve control lever 30b is provided with ahorizontal aperture 41 in which is rotatably mounted the upper end ofconnector rod 44, the lower end of said rod being rotatably mounted onthe upper arm 46 of the accelerator linkage lever 48. The lever 48,which is pivotally mounted on the side of the engine block 3 by means ofa pin 50, has a lower arm 52 carrying a pin 54 integrally mountedthereon, the outer end of pin 54 being operatively attached to the lowerend of an accelerator rod 56 by means of a joint member 58 and a locknut 60. The upper end of the accelerator rod 56 is pivotally mounted ona conventional accelerator foot It will be appreciated that in Fig. 1.

An actuator for a plurality of carburetors made in accordance with themodification of Fig. 2 would com- .prise two straight levers, such as38a and 380, for actuating the outwardly spaced carburetors, with theinwardly spaced carburetors being provided with levers having an;outerU-shaped end as shown by lever 38b in Fig. 2. A modifiedlongitudinal member 42' would also be employed and would comprise aseries of rigid longitudinal members disposed between the outwardlyspaced levers such as 38a and 380 and the lever portions 70 and 72,

of the inwardly spaced levers 38b, and fixedly secured in aperturesprovided in the ends of said levers and insaid lever portions by anysuitable means as by welding.

The invention is illustrated herein as applied to the actuation of threecarburetors; however, it will be under- .stood that the principles ofthe invention may be practiced to actuate any other reasonable number ofin-line carburetors, for example, two or fourv stood that theaccelerator linkage rod 44 may be attached to any one of the throttlevalve control levers 30a, 30b or 300, and not necessarily to lever 30bin order to .practice the invention.

In operation, one of the carburetor throttle valve levers, such as 30b,is actuated from the accelerator foot pedal 62, by means of theaccelerator linkage comprising, accelerator rod 56, lever 48 andconnector rod 44. As the throttle valve lever 30b is actuated from ano-load to a full-load or full-throttle position, such actuation issimultaneously and positively transmitted through the actuator 'lever38b and the rigid longitudinal member 42, to the actuator levers 38a and38c, and thence to the other carburetor throttle valve levers 30a and300. In the illustrative embodiment of Fig. 1 the actuator for thecarburetors 18a, 18b and 18c, is shown in the no-load throttle positionby heavy lines as designated by numeral 75 and at the full-load positionby broken lines as designated by numeral 75a.

' While it will be apparent that the preferred embodiments of theinvention herein disclosed are well calculated ,to fulfill the objectsand features above stated, it will be appreciated that the invention issusceptible to modification, variation and change without departing fromthe proper scope or fair meaning of the subjoined claims.

What is claimed is: 1. For use with an internal combustion engine havinga plurality of in-line carburetors, each having a throttle valve shaft,and an actuating member connected to each shaft for rotating the shaft,mechanism adapted to be assembled with said engine for effectingconcurrent rotation of all of said shafts, said mechanism comprisingmeans for interconnecting all of the actuating members to effectconcurrent rotation of all of the shafts, said last named meanscomprising a plurality of spaced flexible It will also be understrips,each of said strips having plane faces of greater width than thicknessso that such strips are flexible in direction normal to the plane facesbut are rigid in direction parallel to the plane faces, meansinterconnecting said strips adjacent one end thereof so that said planefaces lie in parallel planes and for unitary pivotal movement of saidstrips in the direction of the planes of their faces, and means forconnecting the opposite end of each strip to its adjacent actuatingmember for pivotal movement therewith, and movable control means adaptedto be connected to one of the actuating members for rotating all of saidvalve shafts in either direction in concert through said interconnectingmeans.

2. Control mechanism comprising a plurality of spaced flexible strips,each of said strips having plane faces of greater width than thicknessso that such strips are flexible in direction normal to the plane facesbut are rigid in direction parallel to the plane faces, an elongatedrigid member interconnecting said strips adjacent one end thereof sothat said plane faces lie in parallel planes and for unitary pivotalmovement of said strips in the direction of the planes of their faces,and means for pivotally connecting the opposite end of each strip toapparatus to be controlled thereby.

3. For use with an internal combustion engine having a plurality ofin-line carburetors, each having a throttle valve shaft, and anactuating member connected to each shaft for rotating the shaft,mechanism for connecting all of the actuating members to effectconcurrent rotation of all the shafts, comprising a plurality of spacedflexible strips, each of said strips having plane faces of greater widththan thickness so that such strips are flexible in a direction normal tothe plane faces but are rigid in a direction parallel to the planefaces, one of said strips having its outer end bent backwardly so as tobe substantially 'U-shaped, a plurality of elongated rigid membersinterconnecting said strips adjacent one end thereof so that said planefaces lie in parallel planes and for unitary pivotal movement of saidstrips in the direction of the planes of their faces, said strip havingthe U-shaped end being interconnected to the other of said strips by theat- -tachment' of one said elongated members to one of the twooppositely disposed faces of said U-shaped end and by the attachment ofanother of said elongated members to the other of said oppositelydisposed faces, and means for connecting the opposite end of each stripto an adjacent actuating member for pivotal movement therewith.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,145,431 Milne July 6, 1915 1,478,903 Morton Dec. 25, 1923 1,611,236Rodgers Dec. 21, 1926 1,920,174 'Harris Aug. 1, 1933 1,944,531 SchweissIan. 23, 1934 2,323,737 Tritle July 6, 1943 2,336,425 Shenton Dec. 7,1943 2,366,721 Gabrielson Jan. 9, 1945 2,404,311 Plank July 16, 19462,471,568 Harrison May 31, 1949 2,492,715 Smith et a] Dec. 27, 1949

